Achievement for All National evaluation (Research report DFE-RR123) (original) (raw)
The Achievement for All (AfA) pilot involved ten local authorities (LAs) selected by the Department for Children Families and Schools (now the DfE). Each LA selected schools to participate and in total there were 454 schools. The main aim of the national evaluation project was to examine the impact of AfA on a variety of outcomes for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). It also aimed to find out what processes and practices in schools were most effective in improving these outcomes. Research design incorporated quantitative and qualitative components. The quantitative component of the evaluation consisted of teacher surveys, parent surveys, attendance and attainment data and school level surveys/data. The qualitative component included interviews with local and regional AfA lead professionals, longitudinal case studies of 20 AfA school, and ad hoc data.
The aims of this national evaluation project are to examine the impact of Achievement for All (AfA) on a variety of outcomes for pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and to find out what processes and practices in schools are most effective in improving these outcomes. The research design comprises (a) a quantitative strand involving longitudinal assessment of outcomes for over 10,000 pupils with SEND (including a comparison group of pupils attending schools that are not involved in AfA) through teacher surveys, parent surveys and academic attainment data, and (b) a qualitative strand involving interviews with key strategic figures, longitudinal case studies of 20 AfA schools, ‘mini-case studies’ of 100 pupils/families, and ad-hoc data collection at a range of events relating to AfA. The findings presented in this report are derived from baseline surveys and an initial case study school visits. They therefore only represent an early ‘snapshot’ and should be interpreted in this context. The baseline survey of pupil outcomes yielded data on around 10,000 pupils in the teacher survey and over 2,000 pupils in the parent survey – making this the largest study of its kind to be conducted in England. Initial analysis suggests that this monitoring sample is representative of national trends among pupils with SEND. Moderate levels of agreement were found between teacher and parent surveys – which emphasises the need for further sharing of information between home and school.
Achievement for All: Addendum Report
2021
This addendum report should be read in conjunction to the main report of this project, Achievement for All: Evaluation Report (Humphrey et al., 2020). The main report presented the findings relating to the first cohort of 6,338 pupils who were in Year 5 at the start of the 2016/2017 academic year. A randomised controlled trial was used to compare outcomes in reading, maths, resilience-related outcomes, and attendance among pupils in 66 schools who received Achievement for All (AfA) with those who attended 68 schools who continued with business as usual. The main report also presents the implementation and process evaluation that was undertaken during the trial. In brief, for the Year 5 cohort, we found that AfA led to a two-month reduction in reading progress at both the wholegroup and subgroup levels-AfA target children and those eligible for free school meals ('FSM children'). ('AfA target children' are defined as those identified as 'vulnerable to underachievement'.) All children and FSM children in the Achievement for All schools made two months less progress in maths, on average, compared to equivalent children in schools that did not receive the programme, while AfA target children made three months less progress in maths, on average, compared to target children in control schools. However, children in AfA schools were more likely to report that there was an adult in their school who cared about them and supported them. This addendum report focuses on the above-noted outcomes for 6,586 pupils who were in Year 4 at the start of the 2016/2017 academic year. This second cohort of pupils were exposed to AfA for the full six terms (two school years) recommended by the developer; this contrasts with the five terms of intervention exposure experienced by the first cohort in the main report. In both the main and addendum report, subgroup moderator analysis was undertaken for the vulnerable 'AfA target' group of pupils identified by the schools involved in the project in addition to the standard subgroup analysis pertaining to FSM children. The main report can be accessed here. The project The intervention in brief Achievement for All is a whole-school development programme that was developed from a national pilot funded by the Department for Education just over ten years ago. It aims to improve pupil academic outcomes such as reading and mathematics as well as resilience-related outcomes such as goals and aspirations and attendance. Schools are supported by a coach from the charity AfA 3As (Aspiration, Access, and Achievement) who works with them to develop leadership and governance, teaching and learning, parent and carer engagement, and wider outcomes and opportunities. The intervention is very flexible and driven by a needs analysis of the school that leads to an action plan to be implemented over a period of two years. Part of the needs analysis involves identifying a target group of pupils with an aim to address the academic achievement gap between the lowest 20% of children and their peers. Impacts measured by the addendum In this addendum report we consider the second cohort of pupils who were in Year 4 at the start of the 2016/2017 academic year and received the full two-year intervention (six terms). The findings are reported for reading-the primary outcome-and for secondary outcomes relating to maths, 'resilience' (self-esteem, goals and aspirations, family connection, and school connection), and attendance. Attainment and attendance data was obtained from the National
2013
Students with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) are at a greatly increased risk of experiencing poor psychosocial outcomes. Developing effective interventions that address the cause of these outcomes has therefore become a major policy priority in recent years. We report on a national evaluation of the Achievement for All (AfA) programme that was designed to improve outcomes for students with SEND through: (1) academic assessment, tracking and intervention, (2) structured conversations with parents, and (3) developing provision to improve wider outcomes (e.g. positive relationships). Using a quasi-experimental, pre-test–post-test control group design, we assessed the impact of AfA on teacher ratings of the behaviour problems, positive relationships and bullying of students with SEND over an 18-month period. Participants were 4758 students with SEND drawn from 323 schools across England. Our main impact analysis demonstrated that AfA had a significant impact on all three response variables when compared to usual practice. Hierarchical linear modelling of data from the intervention group highlighted a range of school-level contextual factors and implementation activities and student-level individual differences that moderated the impact of AfA on our study outcomes. The implications of our findings are discussed, and study strengths and limitations are noted.
SUCCESS FOR ALL / ROOTS & WINGS Summary of Research on Achievement Outcomes
2004
Every child has the capacity to succeed in school and in life. Yet far too many children fail to meet their potential. Many students, especially those from poor and minority families, are placed at risk by school practices that sort some students into high-quality programs and other students into lowquality education. CRESPAR believes that schools must replace the "sorting paradigm" with a "talent development" model that sets high expectations for all students, and ensures that all students receive a rich and demanding curriculum with appropriate assistance and support. The mission of the Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed At Risk (CRESPAR) is to conduct the research, development, evaluation, and dissemination needed to transform schooling for students placed at risk. The work of the Center is guided by three central themes-ensuring the success of all students at key development points, building on students' personal and cultural assets, and scaling up effective programs-and conducted through research and development programs in the areas of early and elementary studies; middle and high school studies; school, family, and community partnerships; and systemic supports for school reform, as well as a program of institutional activities.
School Outcomes: Sharing the Responsibility Between Pupil and School1
Education Economics, 2002
This paper uses a Data Envelopment Analysis based approach to decompose pupil under-attainment into that attributable to the school the pupil attends and that attributable to the pupil. The approach measures pupil attainment in terms of value added. Data on over 6700 A-level pupils from 122 English schools have been analysed. The results suggest that at current levels of school effectiveness a pupil's own application accounts for the major part of any under-attainment, though schools also have scope to improve their effectiveness. The approach also makes it possible to identify target attainment levels a pupil could be set and the extent to which the attainment of those targets necessitates an improvement in the effectiveness of the school the pupil attends and in the pupil's own efforts.
Multi-site comparison of the effects of success for all on reading achievement
Journal of Literacy Research, 1996
This study investigated the effects of the Success for All (sfa) program on elementary school students' reading achievement in cities. The purpose was to conduct an independent examination of the program's effective- ness separate from the program's developers and from the school district in which it was first implemented. The research framework employed a pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design with nonequivalent
Effects of Success for All on TAAS Reading: A Texas Statewide Evaluation. Report No. 51
2001
This report presents analyses of data from the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) reading measures. It evaluates outcomes in all of the 111 Texas schools that began Success for All from 1994-97. Success for All is a comprehensive reform model for elementary schools, especially Title I schoolwide projects. TAAS reading scores were collected in all elementary grades starting in grade 3, so the analyses presented here evaluate the effects of Success for All in the upper-elementary grades. This analysis is the largest evaluation of Success for All and is the first large-scale study to examine results separately by student ethnicity. The Texas statewide data reported here show that Success for All schools are significantly and substantially closing the gap in TAAS reading performance between themselves and the far less impoverished schools in the rest of the state. This is particularly true for African American and Hispanic students, for whom the gap with white students closed significantly more than it did for African American and Hispanic students in other schools. Research on Success for All holds out the possibility that programs designed to ensure the reading success of all children may be particularly beneficial for African American and Hispanic children, who have historically been underserved in American schools. (Contains 19 references.) (Author/SM) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.
Evaluation of school achievements of students with special educational needs – a preliminary study
Special School, 2019
In the first part of the article, the authors present new regulations in Kazakhstan that oblige teachers to monitor students’ academic achievements; they also draw attention to problems relating to the evaluation system for students with special educational needs in inclusive education. This gave grounds for undertaking research with the aim to analyze foreign experiences (in selected countries) and reflect in detail on the student evaluation system in Kazakhstan. In the next part of the article, the authors briefly outline Australian solutions and then provide a more detailed description of Polish and Russian solutions. A special focus is given to the analysis of the Kazakh system monitoring academic achievements in students with special educational needs, and both positive changes and the need to develop new systemic solutions are pointed out. The authors have found that I. Altynsarin National Academy of Education developed psychological and pedagogical approaches (student-centere...
Success for All: A Summary of Research
Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk (JESPAR), 1996
This paper describes the current state of research on Success for All, a program built around the idea that every child can and must succeed in the early grades. Success for All assumes that every child without organic retardation can read. Requirements for success include prevention and intensive early intervention. Success for All began in one Baltimore (Maryland) school in 1987-88 and has spread to about 300 schools nationwide in fall 1995. Almost all Succr?ss for All schools are high-poverty Title I schools, and the majority of programs are schoolwide programs under Title I. To summarize the outcomes of the program in all schools and all years involved in experimental control comparisons, this paper uses multi-site replicated experiment analysis in which each grade level cohort is considered a replication. Evaluation results for 19 Success for 'All schools in 9 districts in 8 states clearly show that the program increases reading performance. Of particular interest are results that compare Success for All with Reading Recovery for different purposes. Results demonstrate that comprehensive, systemic school-by-school change can take place on a broad scale while maintaining the integrity and effectiveness of the model. (Contains 6 tables, 6 figures, and 39 references.) (SLD)